Hate My JOB, please give me some perspective

I am a lpn who just finished an ADN program. I have yet to schedule my Boards but took a new position working in Corrections. I precepted there to complete the rn program and had a great experience. The manager suggested I take a position with an external agency to get my foot in the door. I did and have regretted it from the get go. I have been there as a lpn for about 3 weeks now and hate it! The job entails shoveling meds, filling empty cards, and doing it all over again. Now the manager is telling me that when I pass my rn boards, I will still be passing meds. I fell apart inside!

I can't imagine just passing meds as a rn. There is little to no hands on cares for the med nurses. There is no talking in the med line and questions have to be limited to meds only. Anything else we have to tell the inmate to 'drop a slip' which pretty much is equivalent to us making an appointment here on the outside. I went to school to help people and get my hands on my patients. A big lesson I learned from my instructors was to 'get your hands on your pts to do good assessments'. I can't even ask more in depth questions when an inmate tells me the med isn't working.

Jobs are very scarce and I haven't worked my other job (in a casual position in ltc) since I took this job. They haven't called with any available hours and I haven't called them. I think once this current job called them for a job check, they pretty much nixed me.

I'm pretty new to nursing and still need to learn so much. I feel I won't be learning anything here. I want so much to expand my limited student knowledge. The one big problem is that there are very few jobs. If you were in my shoes, what would you do? The extra money is great, but I'm so used to living from hand to mouth that I'm not ready to just give up on something better just yet. I would appreciate any thoughts. :bowingpur

Keep this job until you can find another. It doesn't sound like you are in an unbearable position... Just a boring one that will do nothing for your skills development. You could start with the LTC place and go from there. When asked "why are you leaving your current job?" tell exactly what you told here. Good luck!

You need to realize you are not dealing with ordinary people. I imagine that any nurse going to work in a prison is not allowed to talk to patients until extensive training is done. You are dealing with potentially violent and manipulative individuals who are in a controlled setting for a reason. There are undoubtedly many procedures and practices in place to keep you safe so you can work in the prison.

If you really want to interact with patients in an uncontrolled setting, try home care. You can autonomously assess and teach. Unfortunately you are in their uncontrolled environment and you may be visiting the potential inmate of the prison.

In any setting in which you work there are risks and methods to manage those risks. You need to work in the job and complete orientation before you are really aware of what the risks are. As a new RN you are considered a new nurse. You are lucky to have that LPN experience to give you an boost in your new role.

I agree that I am definitely a new nurse (rn). I guess I hoped for more. When I precepted there, I was alone with patients, doing assessments, and was even able to do some one time nursing orders per protocol. I charted on my own, saw pts alone (as alone as you can in prison, doors always open with officers close by), and did treatments/dressing changes alone and on my own. Everything is on paper so I checked off orders and made sure everything went in its correct spot. It was much different than being a med pass nurse.

I do understand that I'm learning and would not want to take on the emergency nurse position. I do however, want more hands on like when I was precepting. I can already see my newly acquired skills slipping away.........

You have the perspective--it's simple, you hate your job and it will not change. Get out, or burn out.

Within twenty miles of you there are dozens of places, most of which you don't hear about. If you are economically destitute you may be stuck. Realize that in reality, these days, there is no longer much in the way of caring, or loyalty. As sad as that sounds, it's the truth.

Try a government funded place, a county home for the aged, try a Veteran's hospital, long term rehab, try looking for a small facility, avoid the "chains" or it'll be pass meds till you get so upset you pass gas instead.

Try government positions, try the local unemployment office. As someone pointed out try home-care nursing, but NOT by a for-profit agency. "For profit" means not "FOR YOU." As this economic crisis continues and worsens, conditions for nurses will worsen. But there are islands of tranquility, and even fun. Try the state, they have entry level "immunization program nurses," and all sorts of nursing. Get a foot in someplace but Do the RESEARCH. Do not listen to the recruiter, visit the local small hospital, volunteer if you can, find the places where good conditions exist. They do exist.

Near me there is a not-for-profit multi-medical-issue hospital for children, a not-for-profit long term care center for brain injuries, two small hospitals that are great, some elderly facilities that are wonderful, there is a great hospice and a great home care group (visting nurses). There are good jobs. There is also a large hospital that is not so great, a large chain elderly care facility that doesn't seem to care about burn-out; and a government nursing home who will make you do what you hate.

These are rough times and it will worsen before it gets better. While you are young and new, look for the job that gets you up in the morning, not at the paycheck. If you want more pay, in a few years go back get a BSN and then a MN and become an ANP.

Just be glad you're not still an LPN working in a hospital doing team nursing. What you described is my day exactly. I HATE it. But I am stuck for now, because I am in school, going to an LPN-BSN bridge. Mgmt makes this big stink about how we ARE nurses, we are NOT med aides, blah, blah, blah, but yet I dont' qualify to talk to doctors, families, patients, ANYONE about anything that is going on. It's open the door, throw their meds at them, and move on to the next 12 patients. Then start it all over again for 1100 FSBS. I, too, am new, coming up on a year. When I first started at this hospital, they used the primary nursing model, where you (LPN or RN) assess, nursing diagnose, treat, medicate, EVERYTHING. Now I am a med aide, no more than that. I am angry that they took my patients away from me. I am angry that I'm not "good enough" and that "it doesn't concern me" to keep updated about my patients.

Sorry, on soapbox.... a sensitive issue, as you can tell. I don't know if it's the economy or what, but mgmt insists that team nursing will NOT go away, and if we don't like it, there's the door.

My advice to you...I know it's a bad economy, etc., but investigate what your duties at the new job will be, make sure you know what will be expected of you, if you decide to explore your options...or is talking to the manager an option, and telling her just what you told us?

Perspective? A regular paycheck with your name on it. That's all the perspective I need at this point.

Exactly! And another thing she should be thankful for is working by herself. No politics or interpersonal grief and friction... Remember the old expression about the only difference between [FONT=Fixedsys]psych patients and the staff is who carries the keys . Not sure if the same applies to a prison, but you get the idea.

There is something to love in everyone (theoretically). Nursing is often like a ministry or mission. Be a blessing while passing those meds. Smile, but report anyone who is inappropriate. If it's anything like psych nursing, they know their boundaries, and they know the consequences of stepping outside those boundaries.

If you hate it, you hate it. That's the only perspective that matters. Lots of us have jobs we hate, or at least there are aspects of the job that we find not to our liking. What would you like to do? You will need bedside experience as an RN. Just pick a different bedside.

I imagine working in a prison is not that different from working on an inpatient psych unit. I completely relate to your woes. Med nurses spend all day preparing, administering, educating about and charting meds. It's tedious and dangerous work.

Perspective? A regular paycheck with your name on it. That's all the perspective I need at this point.

That's sad.

Today I am putting in my notice at a LTC facility that I have been "the best medication nurse" at for 16 months. I'm tired of the grinding workload. I'm tired of the repetition. I have given every boss I have the opportunity to put me in another position or lose me, and believe me, the place I work with is short-staffed, but they have all blown me off, one by one. Meanwhile, I am so exhausted, my new hobby is napping on the sofa after work. For what they are paying me, it's not worth it to me or my family. I am married and we can live without my paycheck until I find another job that offers me both a paycheck and more. As of now, I refuse to just work for a paycheck. I care about my residents and my co-workers, but enough is enough.

I don't know if it will be hard to find another job, as the few enquiries I have made have been promising.

Thank you all for your input. Today I went in and explained how I felt. I explained that I have yet to develop so many skills that I just learned by completing the rn program. I want to learn and grow as a newer nurse. We talked about my role possibly growing over the years, but the human resource lady did acknowledge that without experience in ER or ICU, my chances of working in a staff position taking an er nurse role would not happen. You have to be able to rotate into that role or you will only be utilized as a med pass nurse.

In the end, I resigned. I walked away from the gatehouse and never looked back. I feel great tonight! I'm going to keep my other job in LTC, study for the rn boards, and see what happens. Continuing on in school is always an option. I'm going to have great faith that I will find my niche.

I did get talked down to by my friends mother this evening. She really let me have it telling me I walked away from an easy job. For those of you that work or have worked in Corrections, you know that there is nothing easy about working in the prison system. I know some people may agree that I walked away from a job and that is crazy, but I really feel that my path is different.

I recall a song that goes something like...'You can't please everyone, so you've got to please yourself'. I tried something and it wasn't what I was hoping for. I still have a job (talked to them today) to go back to so if anything, I gained some new perspective and confidence! :wink2: